一点儿小麻烦
课文学习台
A Spot of Bother
把人物、线索、转折和结果组织成连贯叙述，理解句子里的修饰层次。
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第1段
The old lady was glad to be back at the block of flats where she lived. Her shopping had tired her and her basket had grown heavier with every step of the way home. In the lift her thoughts were on lunch and a good rest; but when she got out at her own floor, both were forgotten in her sudden discovery that her front door was open. She was thinking that she must reprimand her home help the next morning for such a monstrous piece of negligence, when she remembered that she had gone shopping after the home help had left and she knew that she had turned both keys in their locks. She walked slowly into the hall and at once noticed that all the room doors were open, yet following her regular practice she had shut them before going out. Looking into the drawing room, she saw a scene of confusion over by her writing desk. It was as clear as daylight then that burglars had forced an entry during her absence. Her first impulse was to go round all the rooms looking for the thieves, but then she decided that at her age it might be more prudent to have someone with her, so she went to fetch the porter from his basement. By this time her legs were beginning to tremble, so she sat down and accepted a cup of very strong tea, while he telephoned the police. Then, her composure regained, she was ready to set off with the porter's assistance to search for any intruders who might still be lurking in her flat.
老妇人高兴地回到了她居住的公寓楼。去商店购物把她搞得筋疲力尽；回家的路上，她每走一步，都觉得篮子更沉了。进了电梯，她满脑子都是午餐和好好休息，但她走出电梯到自己的楼层后，突然发现她家的大门敞开着，刚才关于午饭和休息的念头顿时全忘了。她正心想明天上午一定要好好批评下那个如此疏忽大意的钟点工时，又突然意识到，钟点工是在她出去买东西之前走的。她还记起曾用了两把钥匙锁上了大门。她慢慢走进前厅，立即发现所有的房门都敞开着，而她习惯在出门前，把房门一一关好。她往起居室里看去，写字台边一片狼藉。很明显，在她外出时，家里遭贼啦。她的第一反应是到各个房间抓贼，但转念一想，像她这个年纪，找个人一起会比较好。于是，她到地下室去找看门人。这时她两腿也开始发抖，于是坐了下来，喝了一杯浓茶。与此同时，看门人打电话报了警。此刻老妇人也镇定了下来，准备在看门人的协助下找找可能仍躲藏在她房里的窃贼。
第2段
They went through the rooms, being careful to touch nothing, as they did not want to hinder the police in their search for fingerprints. The chaos was inconceivable. She had lived in the flat for thirty years and was a veritable magpie at hoarding; and it seemed as though everything she possessed had been tossed out and turned over and over. At least sorting out the things she should have discarded years ago was now being made easier for her. Then a police inspector arrived with a constable and she told them of her discovery of the ransacked flat. The inspector began to look for fingerprints, while the constable checked that the front door locks had not been forced, thereby proving that the burglars had either used skeleton keys or entered over the balcony. There was no trace of fingerprints, but the inspector found a dirty red bundle that contained jewellery which the old lady said was not hers. So their entry into this flat was apparently not the burglars' first job that day and they must have been disturbed. The inspector then asked the old lady to try to check what was missing by the next day and advised her not to stay alone in the flat for a few nights. The old lady thought he was a fussy creature, but since the porter agreed with him, she rang up her daughter and asked for her help in what she described as a little spot of bother.
他俩搜遍了每一个房间，小心翼翼地不接触任何东西，因为他们怕妨碍警察寻找指纹。房间里的凌乱状况超乎想象。老妇人在这套公寓里住了 30年，她又是个名副其实的收藏家。看来她的每一件东西都被翻了出来，并且被里里外外看了个遍。这样一来，她倒是容易将那些几年前就该扔掉的东西找出来了。过了一会儿，一位巡视官带着一名警察来了。她向他们讲述了发现公寓遭贼的经过。巡视官开始搜寻指纹，经检查，警察发现大门锁头并无撬过的迹象。由此可以证明，窃贼不是用万能钥匙，就是翻越阳台进来的。巡视官没有发现指纹，却发现了一个装有珠宝的、肮脏的红包袱。老妇人说那不是她的。很明显，那天窃贼并不是首次作案，而且他们一定是在作案时受到了惊动。巡视官请老妇人在次日之前设法查清丢了些什么，并劝她几天之内不要独自一人在公寓过夜。老妇人觉得巡视官大惊小怪，但既然看门人也同意他的意见，她只得打电话向女儿求援，说她碰到了一点儿小麻烦。
学完这一课
保留原段的推进关系，换成自己的经历，写或说一段四五句的话。
译文与解析据吴应时、何景霖整理资料及本站首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第209—212页，2022年2月第3版。